


In a Kinder World

by mugsandpugs



Category: X-Men Evolution
Genre: Character Study, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-21
Updated: 2019-04-21
Packaged: 2020-01-23 02:50:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18540790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mugsandpugs/pseuds/mugsandpugs
Summary: Small character study on what could have happened if Xavier was capable of practicing forethought.





	In a Kinder World

"I can tell you're scared," Jean said softly, and wasn't surprised when Lance's lip curled in disgust, as he drew himself up, chest puffing like a proud bird's. Always and forever projecting strength; masculinity. He'd never been allowed to display vulnerability without it being punished in some way or other.

"I ain't scared, Red," he snarled. "But maybe _you_ should be." 

Threats, from a delinquent punk who was even now worrying about getting enough food to eat tonight; scared of getting a beating from his older housemates? Wondering if the migraines using his inexplicable powers would one day kill him? It just made Jean feel tired, and sad. 

"I _am_ scared," she confessed, dragging her toes in the sand as she lightly twisted in her swing. "Of so many things... Of the way the world treats people like us. Of how many of us are out there thinking they're all alone. My powers scare me sometimes... I don't know if I can stop them before going too far. I'm scared I'll hurt somebody, and nobody will be strong enough to stop me in time." 

With a flick of her wrist, she called on individual grains of sand, thousands of them, to rise from the ground, swirling around and through her fingers like a tiny vortex. Lance forgot to project himself as big and tough, for a moment. He only stared in childlike wonder at the particles glistening in the sun. 

_Wow..._ The thought was innocent. Happy. When he reached out, she stretched her hand towards his, brushing index fingers, and coaxed the complicated pattern of whirling sand over to him instead, circling his wrist and fingers like bangles and rings before falling into a neat pile in his palm. 

He laughed, and the sound was at complete odds with his tough-guy persona. He was no monster. He was a boy, alone and unloved, and it hurt a little, watching him remember himself, squaring his shoulders, jutting his chin out like a knife, an accusation. 

"That was real pretty, Red," he sneered. "What else you got?" 

Oh, he wanted more? Very well... 

She directed her next thoughts into his mind, staring into his brown eyes she focused on their connection. **They changed your name when they put you in the American foster system, didn't they? And you don't even remember what it used to be. They told you nobody would adopt a foreign boy, and you believed them.**

Lance's eyes flew wide at Jean's voice echoing in his brain. He jerked away from her, panicked and frightened. "H-how did you know that?! Stay outta my head!" 

He raised his hands in defense, and Jean remembered clearly how he'd knocked his school to rubble. How dangerous, how violent the boy could be. 

But underneath all that, underneath the toughness, she saw fear, and vulnerability. Lance was as much a kid as she; just another mutant in need of help and a home. In many ways, he wasn’t so different from her Scott. 

"Whether they call you Dominikos Petrakis or Lance Alvers," Jean gently told the young man. "I know there's good in you. Come with me, Lance. There’s a place for you. You aren’t doomed to end the world.”


End file.
